History In Mantel's Wolf Hall

In Wolf Hall, Mantel alludes to other forms of history in order to demonstrate the progressiveness of time and how every series of events influences the next. By referencing specific examples, it becomes clear to the reader that everything that is being detailed before them, regarding Henry’s desire to divorce Katherine and marry Anne with Cromwell’s intent to make it so, is as a result of past actions, and the actions of Cromwell, the Cardinal and Thomas More alike will, and did, go on to affect the future of England.
This is particularly potent when considering the novel’s end in which Cromwell has reached his peak in terms of influence and power, and yet the reader’s historical perspective awards them the knowledge of his later downfall that follows shortly afterwards. This therefore indicates that the novel acts simply as a snapshot in the never-ending progression of

society and the relentless need for preserving it, done so in this instance through a novel, making the importance of looking back on the history that came before it even more significant.
One such historical allusion included is dating back to the days of time immemorial where a Greek king exiles his murderous daughters who go on to mate with demons on a far away island, producing giants that spread across Britain. It is important in the sense that it can be considered dangerous to try and control those with violent tendencies as their response may be all the more damaging, questioning how Cromwell should have responded to the King’s pleads as, either way, the consequences for him would eventually be catastrophic. This possibly adds a sense of foreboding to the novel also, allowing the reader’s thoughts to continue beyond the novel’s end.
Through these references, Mantel is presenting Wolf Hall as being part of some wider scheme of documenting history whilst also asking the reader to forgo their further knowledge and to experience the events as Cromwell did so. She asks for a show of ignorance to what came before and after, almost like Cromwell’s own life and his lack of a family to influence his actions, instead viewing them in a purely isolated, almost egocentric manner. Stephen Greenblatt comments on how Cromwell “finds himself virtually alone in the midst of a fantastically complicated, fantastically dangerous situation”1 with Mantel not dwelling on “the spiritual or even the social consequences of the massive appropriation and redistribution of land and treasure that her hero oversaw.”2 The allusions to history, therefore, create the sense of a timeline in terms of suggesting where Cromwell’s place is upon it, but it is not considered essential to the reading of the story as one that is set in the present tense and intended to be viewed as one that is still relevant to the reader today.
A second historical account is given in the novel in Thessaly where the poet Simonides defies a host’s wishes for a lyric praising him, instead including other details.

This leads to Simonides finding himself outside when the roof of the banquet hall collapses, as if Simonides’ boldness saved his life. This calls into question the actions of Cromwell and other historical figures in history who dutifully served masters, no matter their requests, but more importantly, the passage describes how Simonides “remembered exactly where everyone was sitting, a the moment the roof fell in.”3 Whilst in this instance the expression is used literally, it can easily be seen as one that is transferrable to other events metaphorically throughout history where something momentous has happened and the exact details recorded and preserved for the understanding of future generations. This historical allusion highlights the importance of such a practice, and in Wolf Hall we watch Cromwell’s rise to power thanks to documentation of those present at the time and also the employability of some poetic licence by

Mantel.
Stephen Greenblatt explains that she therefore demonstrates “the ability to summon up ghosts. The historical novel then is always an act of conjuring”4, using haunting lexicon to allow the questioning of reliability whilst also creating the sense that the characters documented may be dead now but their influences remain apparent. Each tragedy therefore picks up where the other left off, reversing a common phrase when Mantel writes, “it all begins with slaughter”5, meaning it acts as the downfall that prepares for the next stage in history to begin.
This idea is seen in the first historical allusion where, of Henry’s dead brother Arthur, it is said, “you must understand that he is not really dead, only waiting for his time to come again”6. This seems to indicate a cycle in the history of leaders copying those before them, whether subconsciously or otherwise, making it all the more important that they are not forgotten once another takes their place, continuing or potentially even reversing the work of their predecessor.
As a result of these allusions, Mantel demonstrates the point that “behind every history, another history”7, elevating the novel’s importance as one that is part of the seemingly never-ending writing of historical novels, all of which must carefully consider what came before their time period even if the characters themselves do not do so, much like the modern day phone user does not dwell on the coding that was required for such an object to exist in the first place.